


kryptonian tradition, or something like it

by sapphic_luthor



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, New Year's Kiss, and kara danvers doesn't know a got damn thing, new year's eve shenanigans ensue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28512528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphic_luthor/pseuds/sapphic_luthor
Summary: Alex had her arms around both Kelly and Kara, and Kara’s arms were in turn around Alex and Lena, and they had created what Kara thought was like a nice human chain, where 'Happy New Year!'s and kisses through laughter were passed from one to the next to the next. It was just as Alex pulled away with an overstated 'mwah' that Kara had, half laughing, turned to kiss Lena on the cheek.Lena, who, in what she would later argue was a very normal thing to do at midnight on New Year’s Eve, was just in the midst of turning her head toward Kara to say “Happy New Year” to her best friend. And so Kara had turned to face Lena at the exact moment that Lena had turned to face Kara and by the time either of them had realized what was happening, they were kissing.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Querl Dox/Nia Nal
Comments: 92
Kudos: 1555





	kryptonian tradition, or something like it

When they kiss, the room goes silent.

Kara hadn’t even really _meant_ to kiss Lena-- she really hadn’t-- but it went like this:

They were all standing in a rather tense huddle around Kara’s television, pink-cheeked and warm-drunk and full of loud jokes and louder laughter. And then the ball touched down, the clock struck midnight, and Kara’s apartment had absolutely erupted.

Nia had pulled a confetti popper, sending twirled strips of paper and glitter raining down on a very confused Brainy as she laughed and kissed the corner of his mouth.

Alex had her arms around both Kelly and Kara, and Kara’s arms were in turn around Alex and Lena, and they had created what Kara _thought_ was like a nice human chain, where _Happy New Year!_ s and kisses through laughter were passed from one to the next to the next. So when Alex had pressed her lips gently to Kelly’s before leaning over to leave an obnoxiously dramatic kiss on her sister’s temple, it only made sense-- and Kara will stand by this-- that it was now Kara’s turn. It was just as Alex pulled away with an overstated _mwah_ that Kara had, half laughing, turned to kiss Lena _on the cheek_.

Lena, who, with her left arm slung around Kara’s waist and her right holding a champagne flute aloft in celebration, had apparently missed the assembly-line-of-kisses memo. Lena, who, in what she would later argue was a _very normal thing to do at midnight on New Year’s Eve,_ was just in the midst of turning her head toward Kara to say “Happy New Year” to her best friend.

And so Kara had turned to face Lena at the exact moment that Lena had turned to face Kara and by the time either of them had realized what was happening, they were kissing. 

There’s a beat before anyone else notices, a glorious second where it’s _just them_ , and Kara’s entire existence is refined down into this one moment: Lena’s lips, soft against her own; the dull roar of a crowd on a television; Lena’s hand, previously slung casually around her midsection, now noticeable on her hip. And then her brain stuttersteps because hot fingertips move to press into the skin of her waist, and Lena’s pulse has skyrocketed, and--

“Uh,” Alex’s voice rings loud from next to them.

Kara pulls away at lightning speed, using the drawn-out milliseconds of superspeed head start she’s got on the humans around her to take stock of the situation before having to face her sister. The room looks like it moves in slow motion, but Lena is completely still. Kara takes her in, and has trouble looking away from how Lena’s eyes are blown so wide in surprise. _Had she even shut them?_ Kara had shut her eyes during the kiss _. Should she not have shut her eyes? Did she_ mean _to shut her eyes? You aren’t supposed to close your eyes when you kiss your friends,_ she thinks. _You aren’t supposed to kiss your friends at all, are you? Oh, fuck._

Lena’s left hand floats in the space between them, still reaching unconsciously for the waist that it had been settled on a fraction of a second earlier. Her eyes follow the line of Lena’s right arm, still held straight in the air in celebration, fingers wrapped around a champagne flute that is now precariously close to spilling. Circumstances notwithstanding, it’s almost comical. She looks like a gorgeous, blushing, puppet, marionetted clumsily between ‘celebration’ and ‘my best friend just kissed me on the mouth,’ and it makes Kara’s stomach flip.

And then time reacquaints itself with the humans, Lena’s arm drops, champagne sloshing over the edge but largely forgotten anyway, and her free hand retreats back toward her body as though she’s been burned. Green eyes stay wide and nervous, and both women speak at once.

“Sorry, I—“

“I was just going to kiss your che—“

“It’s fine! Don’t worry—“

“I’m _so_ sorry, I didn’t mean t-“

Their words tumble over one another, and Kara doesn’t know if she should provide an apology or an explanation first. She gets out the first half of both of them before it becomes apparent how quiet the rest of the party has gone, and then she is well and truly mortified. The blonde turns away from the burgeoning disaster between herself and Lena long enough to take in the faces of her friends: Alex, looking confused and _very_ concerned; Kelly, who looks a little like she’s holding in a laugh; Brainy, who seems to have no concept of what’s going on, and Nia, who is glaring daggers at Alex with a ferocity that Kara has never witnessed before.

They all look back at her, and Kara’s suddenly expressly annoyed that she’s being put under a microscope for a _tiny_ drunken mistake at a party. _It’s not even a big deal,_ she tells herself, but then she turns back to Lena and catches the blush on the brunette’s cheeks again, and her heart nearly breaks at how fucking gorgeous her friend is and how badly she’d _really_ like to kiss her again, and so maybe that’s kind of a big deal. The silence drags on, and Kara realizes they’re still staring.

“Um,” Kara says stupidly, and she feels the first tendrils of panic climbing up her spine as she realizes that this tiny mistake may actually have catastrophic consequences.

Nia sees disaster coming, and reacts first.

“Happy new year!” She says toward Kara a little-too-loudly, and then she takes two steps forward, leans in, and kisses Kara directly on the lips.

Kara only has time to blink once in shock before Nia turns and throws an arm casually around Lena’s shoulders, smiles “And to you!” and leans in to press a kiss to the brunette’s lips as well.

“Wh--” Kara starts, absolutely mind-boggled, but Nia interrupts.

“Kryptonian tradition!” She cheers, smiling wide but cutting her eyes discreetly toward Kara as she says it. She steps back toward Brainy, reaching out to yank him close by his arm, and kisses him as well. “Kisses for everybody!” 

“What?” Alex demands, eyebrows drawn together and face a perfect photo of _what the fuck is going on?_ She looks quickly between Nia and Kara, trying to figure out what she’s missing.“Since _when--_ ”

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” Nia yells again, just a little bit louder, and she descends on Alex.

“Nia, what are--” Alex tries, but then Nia’s sprinkling a handful of confetti over her head and reaching jokingly for Alex’s face, and the older woman can’t help but laugh. “Oh my god, Nia, _no,_ you are _not_ kissing me--” Alex protests, brushing pieces of glittered paper from her hair and dodging Nia.

“Fine, fine,” Nia says dramatically, holding a hand up in surrender and taking a sip from her champagne flute with the other. “If you want to disrespect your sister’s sacred cultural traditions, that’s totally up to you. I’ll just kiss your girlfriend instead.”

“ _What_ traditions?” Alex asks in exasperation, but then Nia’s words register and she sputters, “Wait, _what?_ ”

Kelly, having already caught on, breaks into a laugh. “You know, the _Kryptonian tradition,_ Alex _._ ” She emphasizes the words, hoping her girlfriend will put the pieces together, but the redhead just gapes back at her instead. “Put a quick hold on that kiss for me,” Kelly says to Nia. “Alex and I need to go open another bottle of champagne.”

“But there’s a bottle still half-full right th--” Alex starts to protest, and then she faces her girlfriend with even deeper confusion written across her face. “Hold on, how would _you_ know about Kryptonian tradition?”

“Come on!” Kelly grinds out quickly, grabbing her girlfriend by the arm and pulling her firmly toward the kitchen. On their way out of earshot Nia hears Alex say something that sounds like, _“Sorry, why is everyone suddenly kissing my sister? Am I_ _losing my mind?_ ” and Nia fondly curses every higher power for Alex’s cluelessness.

Kara watches the entire ordeal play out while feeling as though she’s missed the most important punchline of the night. She catches a slight movement at her side, and turns to see Lena looking equally as confused.

“Sorry about that,” Kara offers, looking embarrassed that she doesn’t have an explanation.

“Oh, don’t apologize,” Lena replies, and when she smiles, Kara cannot help but let her eyes fall to Lena’s mouth. The moment they shared earlier comes fluttering back into her heart, and the memory of feeling Lena’s lips pressed back against her own threatens to drown out all other coherent thoughts. She nearly gets so lost in the phantom touch of Lena’s fingertips pressing into her hip that she almost doesn’t hear the brunette when she speaks again. “Is that… some kind of Nova Cycle tradition?”

Kara blinks, her lips parting silently as she struggles to wrangle her brain into thinking of anything other than kissing her best friend again. Maybe several more times. “Um…”

Lena bites gently at her lip, the shine of a smile in her eyes at Kara’s confusion.. “You know, all the, um...” she says, motioning vaguely between their faces with her hand, “...kissing. It’s a Kryptonian thing?”

“Uh,” Kara says, and _Wow,_ she thinks, _It would be great if I could come up with literally anything other than single-syllable incoherencies._ She scrambles to put together some kind of believable response, because _no,_ there very much is _not_ any tradition that demands everyone kiss their friends during Nova Cycle celebrations, but Nia had kind of backed her into a corner on that. Just as Kara thinks she may have a vague explanation that doesn’t require lying, Alex and Kelly re-enter.

“Right, so,” Alex begins awkwardly, clearing her throat. “Anyway. Happy new year everyone, and especially to you, Kara. I apologize for forgetting about your, um…” she steals a quick glance to Kelly, “...the, uh, Kryptonian… kissing thing. I personally will be opting myself and Kelly out of it for the remainder of the night, but you guys, um, feel free to… uh,” Alex nearly loses her way again, and her next words come out through a grimace that makes it clear how deeply awkward she feels. “You guys can just keep... celebrating… with each other. Or whatever.” She cringes as she finishes, looking like she knows exactly how disastrously that went, and then makes a grab for the newly-opened bottle of champagne Kelly is holding and takes several long gulps directly from it.

“Thanks...?” Kara says, and if the confusion in her tone is obvious, nobody comments on it.

“Great!” Nia smiles, clapping her hands together and looking proud of herself. “Then let’s go watch all the fireworks from the roof. And I don’t want to hear a word from either of you _,_ ” she says, pointing an accusatory finger at first Alex and then Kara, “about the illegal ones. We are in celebration-only mode tonight.” Kara and Alex scoff almost simultaneously, leaving both Lena and Kelly to bite back laughter.

“Technically, there is only a very small risk that any illegal firework displays will cause significant property damage,” Brainy interjects matter-of-factly. “And J’onn is quite literally 100% capable of doing Supergirl’s job for the night, leaving you free for, as I believe Nia termed it, “celebration-mode.”

“Of course, of course. No work, only fun!” Kara smiles.

“Fine,” Alex agrees begrudgingly. She tucks her champagne bottle under her arm and snatches another from the table. “But I’m taking this one with me too.”

And then it’s okay again, Kara thinks. The night slips back into the casual intimacy of friends without fanfare, and aside from some serious questions she will ask Nia and Alex later, Kara feels like the entire night has returned very very nearly to normal.

When they tumble onto the roof of Kara’s apartment building with blankets and champagne bottles and a speaker playing their favorites, everything feels _almost_ perfect. They’re drunk and they’re all together again in a way that feels like family for the first time in a long time; it’s not lost on Kara what the new year means for Lena. And Kara wants to say something, wants Lena to know that even if nothing has effectively changed from December 31st to January 1st, that the start of a year in which they have no pain left to overcome and only hope ahead of them is just as important to Kara too. And she considers it. She thinks about turning to Lena and clinking her alien rum bottle to Lena’s champagne glass and saying _This is the way it’s supposed to be, don’t you think? We’re supposed to have these beginnings together._ She wants to say _What if we laid here all night together? What if I floated us up above the skyline and we watched dawn break and claimed that first blue sky for ourselves, for this new beginning that we’ve fought so hard for?_

She considers doing it, and she almost does, because she needs Lena to know that she understands the fragile pact that exists between forgivenesses and rebirth, and she knows this feels like a real, honest, clean slate. But every time Kara turns to look at Lena, something in her plan just… falls away. Because Kara doesn’t know how to explain _anything_ she’s thinking when Lena is beside her with her legs curled beneath her, a little bit overdressed and intensely regal-looking in the way her coat is draped over her shoulders like a cloak. Dark hair is loosely pinned back at her temples and her makeup is fierce and beautiful, and the light from the fireworks hugs Lena so gently around the edges of the night that Kara can’t look at her without feeling an urge to kiss her that is so overwhelming it aches. And what is she supposed to do with _that_ feeling, Kara wonders? How does an accidental kiss transmute itself into heart-bound instinct inside of an hour?

“I’m going to go bring the snacks up here,” Kelly says, leaning backward to speak to the rest of her friends seated in a long line next to her. “Lena, will you come with me?”

“Sure,” Lena agrees, popping to her feet and following Kelly to the stairs leading down toward Kara’s apartment. Kara focuses her hearing on the latch of the door, ensuring it clicks before she leans forward and turns to Nia.

“So uh, “Kryptonian tradition”?” Kara asks Nia sarcastically, punctuating the words with air quotes. “What was that all about?”

“I was saving your ass,” Nia says nonchalantly, not bothering to pull her eyes from the fireworks.

Kara shakes her head in confusion. “What? From what?” Alex audibly snorts as she takes another pull from her champagne bottle.

“From _what?”_ Nia asks, now turning to look at Kara. “Are you serious? You literally kissed Lena, which made sense to me considering, like, everything about you two, but then when Alex _interrupted_ ,” she shoots a glare toward Alex, who looks briefly guilty, “all of the sudden you looked like you were seconds from a panic attack.”

“Okay, but I didn’t mean to kiss--” Kara starts to protest.

“So I, being a quick thinker and an _amazing_ friend I might add,” Nia continues, talking over the blonde, “Gave you a perfect excuse to explain away why you were kissing Lena in your living room with like, the most sickening amount of romance I have ever seen outside of a Hallmark movie.”

Alex chuckles at that, and Kara almost chokes on her glass of rum. “ _What?”_

“Kara you guys were like… kissing,” Alex says to her, speech a little looser from the drink. “And not a New Year’s Eve kiss, but like, _kissing._ For a _while._ ”

“No we weren’t,” Kara instantly protests. But then she looks from Alex, who seems to be completely serious, to Nia, who is intently studying her own hands and fighting back a snicker, and she starts to panic. “No we weren’t! It was just an _accident_ for like half a second!”

“Uh, maybe your superspeed gives you a warped idea of time, but it was definitely not half a second,” Alex deadpans, and it makes Kara’s heart freeze up with nerves. The reality of what they’re telling her starts to set in, and she panics.

“It was six point four seconds,” Brainy chimes in from where he’s laid on the far side of Nia, flat on his back and watching the fireworks.

“Oh my God,” Kara whispers, mostly to herself.

“And then Alex _interrupted_ you,” Nia says, looking pointedly toward the redhead.

“Wouldn’t you?!” Alex shoots back. “My little sister was about to start tonguingLena in front of everyone.”

Nia cuts her off with an eye roll. “I was going to let it play out. Honestly, I thought you had just finally made your move,” she says to Kara. “I didn’t realize you didn’t _know_ you liked her. This is much stupider.”

And Kara wants to have a comeback to that, but Nia’s right. That overpowering urge to kiss Lena makes a bit more sense if she considers that maybe it’s because she just _really wants to kiss Lena._ That realization, compounded with the way her stomach has flipped every time her best friend has smiled for the last four years, and the near-ends of every known universe that Kara had gone to in order to save her from heartbreak... the evidence does seem to lead toward one obvious conclusion. And all Kara can think as she considers how long she’d been missing this massive awakening is, _God, it really_ is _stupid._

“If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t see it either,” Alex says, patting Kara on the back goodnaturedly.

“You have a pretty bad track record on that front anyway,” Nia smirks to Alex, earning her a glare. “It must run in the family.”

“What runs in the family?” Comes a familiar voice from behind them, and Kara’s heart feels like it triples its pace.

“Stubbornness,” Nia lies smoothly, and Kara lets out an inaudible sigh of relief when Lena doesn’t press any further.

The dark haired woman slips down to settle at the Kryptonian’s side again, this time holding a water bottle and an artfully arranged plate of crackers and cheeses and fruit. “Did I miss anything?” she asks nonchalantly.

“Nope,” Kara responds, grabbing a grape from the plate and popping it into her mouth. “Just waiting for you to get back.” She cringes internally as soon as she hears she’s said it, but then she chances a glance at Lena, and maybe it’s the champagne, she admits, but the brunette’s cheeks are flushed a pretty shade of pink too.

-

“Thank you for having us in your home,” Brainy declares, shaking Kara’s hand ardently as goodbyes are exchanged all around.

“And happy new year again,” Nia says, wrapping her arms around Kara near the doorway.

“You’re not going to kiss me again are you?” Kara jokes in the middle of the hug, and Nia lets out a bit of a groan as she pulls back.

“No, absolutely not. Too weird,” she laughs, but then her voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. “But worth it. You’re welcome.”

“Good _bye_ Nia,” Kara smiles. “And happy new year to you too, Brainy.” When the door closes behind them, Kara swivels to survey the rest of the party.

“So I’d love to stick around and help you clean up,” Alex proclaims tiredly from where she stands in the kitchen, overlooking a half dozen champagne flutes and nearly as many empty bottles. “But more than that, I really want to go to bed.”

Kara rolls her eyes, but she can’t help but smile. “Only one of us has superspeed,” she replies. “I think I can handle it in the morning.”

Alex nods her thanks, and then lets her voice drop to a quieter, more serious register. “What about… the other thing?” she asks, tipping her head toward the couch. Kara watches as Lena and Kelly dissolve into loud drunken laughter, and feels her heart grow at the sight. When she looks back toward Alex, she sees her sister looking on at the pair of them with much the same look of adoration on her face, and it strikes her again just how clueless they had both been about her feelings for Lena.

“I don’t know yet,” Kara answers honestly. “I don’t think I’m going to say anything tonight. I wouldn’t even know what to say.” Alex watches the two women in the living room for a second longer, and doesn’t take her eyes off of her girlfriend when she responds.

“It does make sense, now that I think about it. A lot of sense.”

“I know.”

“And she’s already practically family.”

“I know.”

Alex turns to look directly at Kara. “Don’t wait too long, okay?”

“Okay,” Kara promises. “I’m just… scared.”

“Well, don’t be,” Alex retorts, making her way toward her sister and laying a comforting hand against the blonde’s shoulder. “She already loves you.” And then before Kara can answer, Alex projects her voice across the apartment. “Okay time to get to bed before I collapse where I stand.”

“Good idea,” Kelly answers, but when she stands quickly from the couch, she wobbles a bit before catching herself on Lena’s steady arm and sending them both into laughter again. “I’m good, I’m good,” she swears, walking the rest of the apartment confidently but a bit crookedly to meet Alex and hook her arm through her girlfriend’s.

“We’re headed out,” Alex says, stifling laughter at Kelly’s drunkenness. “Time to get some water into this one, and get myself into bed.”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Kara agrees. “I’m exhausted. Give me a call tomorrow if you need anything.”

“Thank you so much for having us,” Kelly gushes, and when she leans into Kara to hug her goodbye, she whispers a slightly-too-loud _good luck_ into Kara’s ear.

It isn’t until the lock clicks into place that Kara realizes she’s now alone in her apartment with Lena, and her nerves go fluttery. When she turns around to find Lena slipping back into her shoes, disappointment tugs heavy at her heart, and she realizes she’s lost the chance to say something even if she _did_ decide on the right words.

“Tonight was great,” Lena says to her, and the tenderness in her voice tells Kara that she genuinely means it. She takes several steps forward, positioning herself between the blonde and the door as she pulls her coat around her shoulders. “Really. It means a lot to me to have been here with you tonight.”

Kara goes soft. “I know,” she replies, and her gaze drops to the floor as she tries to figure out how to verbalize what she feels. “It means a lot to me too. I’m glad that we… I’m just glad that we’re here, Lena.” She lifts her gaze to meet the brunette’s and when their eyes lock, the air charges around them. “I’m glad we’re back,” Kara finishes in a whisper.

Lena’s gaze flicks between Kara’s eyes. She takes a heavy breath before she speaks, like she’s trying to convince herself to say it all. “This has been… the best holiday I’ve celebrated in years,” she admits softly. “After everything we’ve been through, to be here with people that feel like family-- but to be with _you_ , Kara, it’s…” she trails off, biting her lip as she chooses her next words. “I just can’t thank you enough.”

Kara drinks in every one of Lena’s words, hyperaware of both the narrow distance between them and the way Lena’s eyes keep occasionally dropping to her lips. And logically she knows this body language, she knows that if she’s going to kiss Lena again tonight now is objectively the time to act, but she’s terrified. Lena may be smokey-eyed and tantalizing and leaning against her door practically asking to be kissed against it, but she’s also sharing a vulnerability, and the last thing Kara wants to do is somehow damage this delicate moment of openness. In the end, her fear wins out.

“Of course,” Kara says genuinely, but she breaks eye contact as she speaks, and the moment that feels like it was about to be something dissolves back into nothing. Feeling the tension fall away, Lena lets out a barely audible sigh, and then leans forward to wrap her arms around her friend in a hug.

They lock arms around one another for a moment, and Kara can’t help but revel in the way it feels. She pulls Lena closer, pressing their bodies together, and when Lena relaxes into it like she’s melting, Kara thinks that even if she never gets to kiss Lena-- like _really_ kiss her-- then she’d be happy to just do this all the time instead.

“Happy new year,” Kara breathes just below Lena’s ear, and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t find a delicious satisfaction in the way the brunette’s breath catches in her throat and goosebumps flare across the sensitive skin of her neck at that.

“You too,” Lena says quickly, and it comes out in a sharp exhale as she pulls back from the hug, cheeks flushed red and lips parted. She doesn’t leave Kara the chance to take any of that in before she flees; she mumbles a quick _goodnight_ as she grabs for the door and slips out of it all in one nervous movement.

For a moment, Kara stands blinking in confusion, hands barely fallen from their place in the air in front of her where Lena had been just a second before. She lets out a long breath, willing her heart to stop beating a mile a minute, and then turns with intent to survey the damage done to her apartment. Kara’s eyes fall on the first bottle of champagne on her kitchen island, and then she hears a noise. No sooner has she turned than her door flies open and Lena slams directly into her, an arm around her neck and lips upon her lips and bodies pressed tightly tightly tightly together.

She kisses desperately, pushing Kara backward by sheer force of acceleration but simultaneously pulling her closer by the collar of her shirt. It takes a second for Kara to catch their collective balance, but when she does, her hands move of their own accord to bury in the nape of dark hair and to wrap tightly around Lena’s waist all at once. Her eyes fall closed a second later, and when Lena closes her teeth on her bottom lip and _bites_ Kara lets out a low, needy sound that spurs her on that much more. She traces her tongue along the bow of Kara’s lips and slides a hand up to catch Kara’s face, tilting her head to meet Kara’s tongue with her own and push them both back into the kitchen. 

Kara’s lower back meets her counter with a force that she knows would bruise a human, but she barely has the time to consider it before Lena’s tongue is hot in her mouth and her body is settling between Kara’s legs, and her brain goes gloriously blank. It’s only a moment later when Lena’s whimpering they’re both breathing hard that Kara shifts and knocks over a stool, snapping them back to reality.

Lena lets out a shaky breath, and instead of untangling herself from Kara she drops her forehead to the blonde woman’s shoulder. She doesn’t speak, but her fingers uncurl from where they’d been clenched in the collar of Kara’s shirt, and her other hand finds its way to the countertop that Kara is pinned to. Kara, for her part, has absolutely no idea what to say. Having lost most of her sense of brain function somewhere between Lena biting her lip and making desperate little noises into her mouth, she decides to go with the simple truth.

“I’ve been fighting the urge to do that all night,” she says, and it makes Lena lift her head and meet her eye.

“I’ve been fighting the urge to do that for four years,” the brunette replies, and her eyes are so green and extraordinary that Kara can’t stop herself from leaning down to capture Lena’s mouth in another kiss. 

“Thank God you finally did,” she says, smiling between the touches of their lips. Kara leans a bit further, dragging her lips down the curve of Lena’s jaw and sucking gentle kisses into her neck. “Can I ask what changed your mind?”

Lena breathes an unsteady exhale, pressing closer into Kara’s touch. “I realized I couldn’t take another year of us not doing this.” She shivers when Kara’s tongue presses to her throat. “And you made the first move, so I figured it was my turn.”

Kara stops. “I… made the first move?”

Lena pulls back to meet the blonde’s eyes. “There’s no fucking Kryptonian _kissing_ tradition, Kara, although I do admire Nia’s commitment to the bit.” Kara bites at her lip and blushes, knowing she’s been caught from the start.

“That kiss was sort of an accident, though,” she admits awkwardly.

“Doesn’t matter,” Lena smirks, letting one hand slide down to grab at Kara’s waist much in the same way she did at the beginning of the night. She presses forward again, rocking into the blonde just so to brush her lips to Kara’s. “But the next time you kiss me in front of all of our friends, you’d better do it properly.” She punctuates the end of the sentence with another searing kiss, and when Kara meets her in her intensity, she loses all thought of champagne bottles or fireworks or fake traditions; all she knows is Lena.

Hours later, when Lena’s kissed Kara so thoroughly on her own couch that she wonders if she can remember either of her names, they untangle themselves long enough for Kara to catch sight of her phone. She grabs it, checks the time, and gasps, grabbing Lena by the wrist and pulling her toward the door.

“Come on,” she says, “We can still make it,” and Lena doesn’t even ask-- she knows she’ll follow Kara anywhere.

-

The Kryptonian lets out a happy little sigh as the first rays of sunlight crawl over the horizon and bleed bright across the cityscape. “The first sun of the year,” she says, and she sounds so awestruck that Lena can’t look away from the wonder on her face. The morning reflects golden and warm on Lena’s skin and glows happy against the blue of Kara’s eyes, and with her arms around Kara’s neck and the city far below them, the sunrise feels like the beginning of so much more.

**Author's Note:**

> i started writing this on 31 dec 2019 and that's a pretty good example of what my WIP habits are like


End file.
